Ginny, Harry, Teddy, Family
by starfishstar
Summary: Ginny adjusts to an unexpected family member.


Acknowledgements: To JKR for all the magic and to Fernwithy for my concept of who Harry will become.

– – – – –

It only took about a day after the final battle before Harry seemed to decide it was his personal responsibility to visit every single person who had fought on his side over the years or who had lost someone in the final battle, to try to make his amends and share their grief.

Ginny, who'd always been both attracted and exasperated by Harry's penchant for noble behaviour, had to admit this was entirely in character.

But she hated that he was never there.

She'd missed him terribly during the long year he'd been away with Ron and Hermione, with no word for months whether the three of them were alive or dead, but she'd always assumed they would be together again once the war was over.

Now, she wasn't so sure. Harry seemed especially to feel an obligation to Andromeda Tonks, widowed and left to raise Remus and Tonks' infant son alone, and it seemed like he was there more often than he was at the Burrow. When he did come to Ginny's family, he was visibly exhausted and barely talked, just stayed close to Mum and ate anything she gave him, trying to console her with his presence. Ginny had a suspicion that when he wasn't running himself ragged trying to please everyone else, he was holing up at Grimmauld Place, and that couldn't be healthy either.

But Ginny wasn't the kind of girl to sit around and pine, so the next time Harry mentioned he was going to visit Andromeda and baby Teddy, Ginny simply announced that she was coming along.

Harry gave her a surprised look, but then just nodded. "Okay," he said. "Saturday at four?"

On Saturday, he picked her up at the Burrow and took her by Side-Along Apparition to a neat little house in a country lane. There was no answer when they knocked, but Harry shrugged and reached into his pocket.

_She's even given him a_ key_?_ Ginny thought, as Harry opened the door and stepped inside.

"Andromeda?" he called.

"Harry?" came a voice from somewhere within the house. "We're in the nursery."

Ginny followed Harry up the stairs, trying not to look at the photographs that waved happily from the wall: many younger versions of Tonks, Andromeda and her husband, Tonks and Remus with the baby… She couldn't look at them. It was too raw.

The nursery was a small, cosy room at the top of the stairs, and Andromeda Tonks was there, rocking the baby in her arms as she walked him back and forth. Ginny didn't know Mrs Tonks well, but she thought she looked older than she had even a few weeks ago. Ginny had last seen her at the funeral.

Andromeda looked up at them in surprise.

"I brought Ginny," Harry said belatedly.

"That's lovely," Andromeda said, still rocking the baby gently. "It's nice to see you, Ginny."

"It's nice to see you too, Mrs Tonks," Ginny answered automatically.

"Please, call me Andromeda," the other woman said, and Ginny was horrified to hear her voice waver. She saw the pain in Andromeda's eyes, and for just a second Ginny wished very selfishly that Harry didn't come here so much and that she hadn't insisted on coming along and that everything could just go back to being _normal_, instead of destroyed. There was a gaping Fred-shaped hole back home, and even with Voldemort gone, Harry was still trying to save the world.

Andromeda gave her a look that seemed a little too uncomfortably understanding, but all she said was, "Harry, do you remember I asked if you would take a quick look at that box of documents I found the other day?"

"Yeah, of course," Harry said, ever alert when needed.

"Well, I finally remembered where I put the box, and it's down in the sitting room. Would you mind coming down for a moment?" Harry nodded his assent and Andromeda turned to Ginny. "Do you mind? Just for a moment?"

Ginny realised Andromeda was about to hand her the baby. "Er – I'm not sure –" she began.

"Don't worry, he's already sleeping," Andromeda said. "Just rock him a little if he starts to stir. Or you can lay him in the bassinet if you want, it's just that he really seems to like to be held, since – well –" Andromeda broke off and tried to pretend she hadn't been about to say what she had. "You'll be fine," she concluded, and gently shifted the sleeping bundle into Ginny's arms. "Just for a few minutes."

Harry followed Andromeda back down the stairs and Ginny found herself alone in charge of a very fragile-looking infant. Ironic, she thought, for someone with so many siblings, that she had hopelessly little experience with babies.

She rocked the baby a little in her arms, trying to peer down into his face, which was mostly hidden by his blanket. He looked like Tonks, she decided, at least as much as a squashy little person with a tiny nose could look like either of his parents. Ginny thought of Tonks making all their favourite silly noses around the table at Grimmauld Place and bit her lip.

She rocked the bundle a little more, wondering what exactly one did with a baby this small, even when he was awake. Did you sing to him? Talk to him?

She tried humming a little bit, a song she vaguely remembered her mum singing when they were little. Teddy stirred in her arms and she panicked, thinking she'd woken him, but he settled down again, eyes still closed. Ginny sighed.

In his sleep, Teddy sighed too, and Ginny's heart constricted with something that felt like love. _That can't be right,_ she thought a little wildly. _How can I already love this baby I hardly even know?_

She held him a little tighter and thought about the parents he would never know, the brothers and sisters he would never have.

"But you've got us, now, Teddy," she whispered into the baby's downy hair, at the moment a pleasant, soft brown. "And I promise you, when I've got kids, no matter when that is and who I have them with, they'll be like brothers and sisters to you."

Ginny was startled to realise she was crying. She didn't know if she was crying for kind Professor Lupin, or funny Tonks, or the baby who would never know them, or for herself because she was so exhausted, or maybe for Fred, because she hadn't cried even a single tear for him since…well, Since, and it made her feel like the worst sister in the world, but there just hadn't been time somehow, with so many people to be there and be strong for. But she missed him, she missed Fred so much, even his stupidest pranks and the times he would pick on her for no reason except that she was the littlest, and it was so horribly unfair it hurt just to think about it.

She looked up and saw Harry in the nursery doorway, stricken at the sight of her tears.

"Ginny," he said.

"No, no, it's okay," she said, and tried to rub her tears away against her shoulder, so she wouldn't have to use her hands and disturb the baby.

Harry hesitated, then came toward her and reached out to wipe her cheeks with his fingertips.

Ginny hiccupped a little. "I'm sorry," she said. "I just – I don't know." She looked around and saw an armchair in one corner of the room, and went and carefully settled herself there, with Teddy still in her arms.

Harry followed, looking uncertain, so Ginny scooted to one side to let him squeeze in next to her. He bumped his shoulder gently against hers and asked, "Should I take him?"

She shook her head. "No, thanks, it's okay." Harry felt warm against her shoulder and Teddy was soft and warm in her arms. She smiled a little at the baby and then at Harry, just happy he was there. Then she realised that might actually be the first real smile Since, too.

Harry gave her a smile back, a small and cautious one, but real. This was the Harry she remembered, a little out of his depth, perhaps, but always in it with his whole heart.

"I'm sorry, Gin," he said. "I know I'm not quite there yet. I know I haven't been around much."

"Well," Ginny said, trying to sound brave, "you were saving the world, after all."

Harry shook his head. "That's not what I mean. I mean, I lost people, too, and it's been hard – oh, I don't know. Getting back to normal, I guess. If there even is a normal, for me." He shoved a hand through his hair, frustrated. "But I know I'm not doing a very good job of showing you that I understand."

Ginny took a deep breath. "I missed you," she said. "A lot."

"You too," Harry mumbled. "Also a lot."

Ginny glanced up and saw Andromeda watching them from the doorway, her face sad but with a little bit of a knowing smile, too. Then she was gone again.

"Harry," Ginny said, "I want to help take care of Teddy. With you, and Andromeda. I don't want him to be alone."

Harry put his arms around her and pulled her close, so he was holding both her and Teddy. "I hope you can understand," he muttered into her hair, "I'm not just doing this for Andromeda. Or even for Remus and Tonks… Really, _I'm _the one who needs_ him._"

Ginny nodded. "You're going to be the best godfather. You already are."

"I don't know about that," Harry said. "I haven't had much practice yet."

"Trust me," Ginny told him.

"I do."

Ginny lay her head against Harry's shoulder and for the first time thought that maybe, eventually, things would start to be all right again.

– – – – –

The End

– – – – –

Just a note:

It always feels a bit shameless to plug my own other stories, but as my fics grow increasingly interlinked, I think I'm going to start doing it after all... So: Writing this inspired me to write another, more in-depth story about Ginny gradually putting her life back together after the war. So if you enjoyed this, perhaps you'd like to follow me thataway, to my story "Chambers."

In any case, thanks so much for reading!


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